All types of fibre materials can be made water-repellent by the use of emulsified organopolysiloxanes, especially organohydrogenpolysiloxanes, that is organopolysiloxanes which contain hydrogen atoms bonded to silicon atoms. Suitable emulsifiers for use in such cases are both non-ionic substances, such as ethylene oxide adducts of alkyl phenols, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty acid amides and fatty amines or polyvinyl alcohols and cationic products, such as quaternary ammonium compounds, e.g. octadecyl oxymethyl pyridinium chloride or cetyl benzyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (see German Pat. No. 1,060,347, U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,275 and British Patent Specification No. 1,300,250). Also, epoxy condensation products can be used for emulsifying organopolysiloxanes (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,197 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,437). One particular property of the fibrous materials treated with silicones is that they have a specific, soft "silicone handle" in addition to very good water-repellent properties.
The finishing of the fibrous materials is generally carried out with aqueous liquors which contain approximately 40 to 70 g/l of the approximately 35% polysiloxane emulsions and optionally, depending on the emulsifiers which are used, suitable hardening catalysts, the fibrous material taking up about 50 to 75% of the finishing solution.
The technological properties, for example the tensile strength, the handle and the lustre of woven fabrics, can be improved by treatment with aqueous emulsions of oxidised polyethylenes (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,207). However, the treatment with these oxidised polyethylenes does not impart any water-repellent properties to the treated materials; to the contrary, if anything, a deterioration in the water-repelling properties is to be expected.
However, it has now surprisingly been found that liquors with substantially smaller quantities of organopolysiloxanes can be used in the water-repellent treatment of fibrous materials with aqueous silicone emulsions if these organopolysiloxanes are used together with an emulsified oxidised polyethylene wax, without causing any deterioration in the water-repellent effects and the typical silicone handle.